Method of and apparatus for forming glass tiles.



PATBNT ED JULY 21, 1908.

I w. T. NIOHOLLS. METHOD OF ND APPARATUS FOR FORMING GLASS'TILES.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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mm 153315; I

1 (5 mm 7 M5 mills;

No. 894,040. PATENTED JULY 21, 1908.

W. T. NIUHOLLS. METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING GLASS TILES.

APPLICATION FILED APE. 2Q. 1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INVENTOR Y LS WILLIAM T. NIOHOLLS, OF WELLSB'UBG, WEST VIRGINIA.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING GLASS TILES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 21, 1908.

Application filed April 20, 1907. Serial No. 369,300.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM T. NIoHoLLs, of WVellsburg, Brooke county, West Virginia, have invented a new and useful Method of and Apparatus for Forming Glass Tiles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figures 1, 2 and 3 are sectional elevations illustrating different forms of apparatus used in carrying out my invention Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a tile such as is formed by the operation of the apparatus of Figs. 1 and 3; Fig. 5 is a similar View showing the tile formed by the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 Fig. 6 is a vertical section in a plane at right angles to that of Fig. 1, and Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the tile as formed in said mold.

My invention has relation to the manufacture of glass tiles of that class which are provided on their under surface with a plurality of continuously extending parallel undercut ribs or projections by means of which the tiles are anchored in their setting.

Heretofore it has been the practice to form tiles of this character by rolling sheets upon a forming table, which sheets were afterwards separated into tile sizes. While such method is a rapid one, yet because of the fact that it is necessary to divide the rolled sheet into tile sizes whose severed edges must be subsequently ground or shaped, there is a large percentage of loss by breakage in these operations.

My present invention is designed to provide a method and means by which tiles of this character can be individually formed by pressing them in a mold. By this method each tile as it is taken out of the mold has completely finished edges and surfaces, thereby avoiding the necessity for grinding or other finishing operations.

My invention also provides means whereby tiles of angular or other form which cannot be rolled may be readily made.

My invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring first to the form of apparatus shown in Fig. 1, the numeral 2 designates the bed or table of a press upon which a mold 3 is seated, a carrying plate 4 being inter osed, said plate having a series of balls or ro lers 5 upon which the mold immediately rests and upon which it is capable of a reciprocating the usual manner.

movement. 6 designates the usual mold handle, and 7 is a removable handled ring which is fitted upon the top of the mold in This rin is formed with the interior opposite, paral el beveled surfaces 8 and 9, which are designed to cooperate with the correspondin ly beveled surfaces 10 and 11 of a vertically reciprocating plunger 12. The angle of these beveled surfaces is approximate y equal to the angle of the undercut face of the ribs or projections to be formed. This plunger may be operated in the ordinary manner of the plunger of a glass press. Its under surface is formed with a series of parallel undercut recesses 13, which correspond in form to the undercut projections 14 to be formed on the under surface of the tile.

In operation, a batch of glass is placed in the mold, and the plunger is then depressed into the mold. As the beveled surface 10 contacts with the beveled surface 8 of the ring 7, the mold will be moved bodily to the right, (looking at Fig. 1,) the beveled proj ection 11 riding underneath the beveled surface 9 of the mold ring. As the plunger is withdrawn from the mold, the beveled surface 11, by its engagement with the beveled surface 9, will move the mold to the left to the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, thereby enabling the projections 14 which have been formed on the glass to free themselves from the undercut recesses in the lunger. I refer to have the ring 7 overiang the mo d at all sides, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, so as to form a plain marginal surface all around the tile, as shown at a in Fig. 7. The overhanging at the ends may, however, be omitted, in which case the ribs or projections 14 will extend the full length of the tile, as shown in Fig. 4.

The apparatus shown in Fig. 2 is similar to that shown in Fig. 1, except that one side 3 of the mold box is made higher than the other, the ring 7 being correspondingly adapted thereto, and the plunger 12 having undercut recesses 13 upon one side thereof as well as upon its bottom surface. The operation of this plunger in the manner above described will produce a tile 15 of the angular form shown in Fig. 5, with the undercut proj ections 14" on the inner surface of each of its portions.

The arrangement shown in Fig. 3 differs from that of Figs. 1 and 2 in that the mold box 3 is stationary, and the plunger 12 is arranged to be reciprocated in an oblique direction, the ring- 7 having the inclined guiding surfaces 16 for the plunger. The movement of the plunger in an oblique line substantially parallel to the planes of the undercut faces of the recesses in its bottom face, enables the plunger to free itself from the formed ribs or projections as it is withdrawn from the mold.

A further advantage of my invention results from the fact that the ribs or projec ti'ons are formed upon that surface of the glass which is cut or severed as the batch is placed in the mold, while the exposed surface of the tile is formed by contact with the bottom wall of the mold cavity. In this manner the marks left by the cutting or "severing of the batch of glass come upon the under or inner surface of the tile so that no subsequent treatment is necessary to remove them, and the exposed surface of the tile is properly finished by the pressing operation.

The edges of the tile are also completely finished in the mold,- so that no subsequent grinding is required, thereby reducing by a very large percent the loss by breakage. The tiles may be readily freed from the mold without difiiculty after the plunger has been withdrawn by removing the top ring.

The apparatus employed may be modified in various ways, and by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim is 1. The herein described method of forming a glass tile having a plurality of undercut projections on-one of its faces, and a plain, marginal portion at opposite edges, which consists in pressing the glass in a mold between substantially parallel surfaces, one of which has a plurality of undercut projections thereon and which is of less area than the other, and moving said surfaces laterally with respect to each other without disturbing their substantial parallelism; substantially as described.

2. In tile forming apparatus, a mold box mounted for reciprocating movement, and having an open top, and a plunger arranged to enter the mold from the top and effect the reciprocation thereof in entering and leaving, said plunger having its bottom face provided with a lurality of undercut grooves; substantial y as described.

3. In apparatus for the manufacture of tiles, a mold mounted for reciprocatory movement, and a plunger arranged to enter the mold from the top and having a plurality of undercut recesses in its lower face, said plunger and mold having coacting cam surfaces arranged to effect the reciprocation of the mold; substantially as described.

4. In apparatus for the manufacture of tiles, a mold having a removable top ring overhanging the mold cavity, a lunger arranged to enter the mold through said top ring, said plunger having a plurality of -undercut recesses in its lower face, and means for effecting a relative lateral movement of the mold and plunger substantially as described.

5. In apparatus for forming glass tiles, a mold having a removable top ring, a plunger arranged to enter the mold throughsaid ring, and having undercut recesses on two of its faces, and means for effecting a relative lateral movement of the mold and plunger; substantially as described.

6. In apparatus for forming glass tiles, a mold having a removable top ring and ,mounted for reciprocating movement, and a plunger arranged to enter the mold through said ring and having undercut recesses on two of its faces, said plunger, and mold hav ing cooperating portions arranged to effect the reciprocation of the mold; substantially as described.

7. In apparatus for forming glass tiles, a mold mounted for reciprocatory movement and having a top ring provided with interior beveled surfaces, and a plunger movable into and out of the mold and having beveled surfaces adapted to cooperate with those of the top ring to effect the reciprocation of the mold, said plunger also having a plurality of undercut recesses; substan tially as described.

In testimony whereof, I havehereunto set my hand.

WILLIAM T. NICHOLLS.

Witnesses:

JOHN MILLER, H. M. CORWIN. 

